Official Luthiers Forum!

What do you northern builders do if you leave for a week or two in winter other than having a buddy fill your humidifier?

Anyone rig some kind of float valve to one of your tanks and connect it to a water source? I know there are commercial units that run on autopilot but they are expensive.

Thanks

Terry

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Both the humidifiers in our shop are plumbed in and fully automatic. Still have to clean and change filters, but no refills here, and I certainly don't miss it.

Short of this, I think you're stuck recruiting a friend or neighbor to help out. Of course if your weather is anything like it's been in Michigan this year, you may not have much to worry about. Ours have barely been kicking in this year, and we have thunderstorms forecast for Thursday!

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Another way to mitigate the problem somewhat is to turn the thermostat down to 40 degrees (keep it above freezing). Reducing the difference between indoor and out door temperature will also reduce the difference between indoor and outdoor humidity.
Minnesota having relatively high winter humidity (75%) keeping the indoor and outdoor temperature within 20 to 30 degrees of each other might keep indoor humidity reasonable. You could probably find a chart and calculate the range it would stay within.

Thankfully I need to dehumidify year round. I do monitor remotely using my Canary security system. They are about $200 and monitor temp, air quality, RH, as well as a motion sensor, HD camera, night vision camera, and intruder siren.

Pretty cool setup...

Of course if you have a standalone humidifier and fee like tinkering, there's this.

http://www.amazon.com/Kerick-Valve-MA05 ... B0077RAP1I

I'd just make sure to test it for a few weeks before leaving it alone - cheap float valves are notorious for not always shutting off entirely. If you decide to try this route and don't have a floor drain to place it by, I would set the humidifier in a tray with a water sensor and shutoff solenoid (we have these set up with our installed humidifiers). Still, could be an economical DIY alternative to a full stick plumbed system.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

As Dave said our humidifiers are completely automatic with no refilling required and just some periodic filter cleaning which is way easier than schlepping water every day....

You guys should ask Dave to post pics of our primary humidifier - Dave made it and it's very clever in all respects. He's even preheating the air for the humidifier and again it's all automatic.

I wouldn't be keen to drop the temps 40 degrees unless you give a lot of thought to what's in your shop. For us we are a commercial business and our heat has to be up to say 70 when clients arrive so this would mean that we are cycling the shop temps 40 degrees up and down daily. I would be very concerned about damaging instruments with this much thermal change so very frequently.

The store that used to be below us in an effort to save money started dropping the heat at night just 10 to 15 degrees and in short order new instruments had bridges lifting or in one case popping off entirely. Not good.

I leave my shop at 45-55F during the winter (depends on the outside temp) which keeps the RH at 35% to 45% without a humidifier. I have one of those oil-filled electric heaters that I leave set all the time that maintains the temperature and I've found that I'm usually comfortable working at 50F. If needed, or I just want to be warmer, I can run the big heater to warm up the shop while I'm in it and then I just spray water on the floor which seems to work ok. No doubt this would not work for a business or in the more northern locations but seems to do ok here.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I am going to Nebraska For Christmas. Gone 5 days. I will split the difference and set the shop to 55- 56 and report back. I will have a fail safe plan for a friend to swing by. Outside temps are predicted to be teens to low 20's.

Lowering the temp is a great idea but I have two new builds back from finish and couldn't bring myself to go below 50.

I'd love to see a picture of your rig Hesh and David. Does it have a steampunk vibe?

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Exactly! I'll ask Dave to take and post some pics.

We have two built in humidifiers, one professionally installed, the secondary kind of jury-rigged together. The proper one is an Aprilaire 360, and the other is an old Kemore 2000 furnace mount humidifier with a rotating drum filter and blower (unfortunately no longer in production).

The Kenmore model will work fine mounted to a ceiling or wall on its own, but I made two small mods to improve it. First I drilled a hole in the tub and mounted a drain hose with a valve and disconnect to make it easy to remove for cleaning. I open the drain valve daily (when I'm around), as without doing so minerals will build up in the basin quickly as water evaporates out, and you'll clog filters way too fast. Every week or so I pull the tub and give it a more thorough rinsing, and do a quick scrub of the filter. With this a single filter can last years.

The other mod was to mount a small portable heater ducted in to the intake. Lowest current draw and temp I could find, but warming the intake air drastically boosts the moisture output (it was designed for a furnace mount after all). Of course you have to be sure either your humidistat is rated to handle the load (ours is), or run it through a separate power relay.



Then of course if you plan to leave your shop unattended, it's always good to be prepared for leaks. We have a catch basin below with a water sensor which will lose off a solenoid valve if it is triggered.



A bit of work to set up, not much work to maintain, and makes day to day life much simpler in the shop.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Thanks!

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.